Employee Benefit Plans:

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2015

Compensation and Retirement Disclosure [Abstract]

Employee Benefit Plans

Employee Benefit Plans:

     The components of net periodic benefit costs, before allocation to the overhead pool, for Registrant’s pension plan, postretirement plan and Supplemental Executive Retirement Plan ("SERP") for the three months ended March 31, 2015 and 2014 are as follows:

	For The Three Months Ended March 31,
	Pension Benefits						Other Postretirement Benefits						SERP
(dollars in thousands)	2015			2014			2015			2014			2015		2014
Components of Net Periodic Benefits Cost:
Service cost	$	1,686		$	1,487		$	95		$	99		$	204	$	192
Interest cost	1,939			1,915			114			130			163		154
Expected return on plan assets	(2,446		)	(2,215		)	(123		)	(113		)	—		—
Amortization of transition	—			—			—			104			—		—
Amortization of prior service cost (benefit)	30			30			(50		)	(50		)	29		40
Amortization of actuarial (gain) loss	469			7			(53		)	(66		)	108		35
Net periodic pension cost under accounting standards	1,678			1,224			(17		)	104			504		421
Regulatory adjustment — deferred	11			300			—			—			—		—
Total expense recognized, before allocation to overhead pool	$	1,689		$	1,524		$	(17	)	$	104		$	504	$	421

In April 2015, Registrant contributed $919,000 to the pension plan. In total, Registrant expects to contribute $6.7 million to the pension plan during 2015.

Regulatory Adjustment:

As authorized by the CPUC in the most recent water and electric general rate case decisions, GSWC utilizes two-way balancing accounts for its water and electric regions and the general office to track differences between the forecasted annual pension expenses adopted in rates and the actual annual expense recorded by GSWC in accordance with the accounting guidance for pension costs.  As of March 31, 2015, GSWC has a total $2.7 million net under-collection in the two-way pension balancing accounts included as part of the pension regulatory asset (Note 2).